Container washing apparatus



Dec. 16; 1952 LATHROP 2,621,667

CONTAINER WASHING APPARATQS Filed Nov. 8, 1946 Patented Dec. 16, 1952qhicago, 111., assignor to The.

f p ompany, Chicago, 111., a. cor- Th sime a arat s v ntipgisne fametothe wa hing ofthe exter of mill; cans a n'd'otlier types l 5biet0f51ihrive, ,jqnis a rat'uslfor effectively Washingcans or other, .c.ontainersin a minimum of time and without re q' sl 't p a of mean as, i g l a ted. 99% a conveyor. Yet an ther object is. toprovid improved-apparatusfor Washing the bottom and outer'fwalls of. acan or. other container.Yetan other. obj act is to provide. means l' automatically operated by acan for.v delivering wa'shfluidand for moving the stream of washingfluid'with the can duringits movement, 3 9 182. conveyortrack.Otherspeci'fic objectsand advantages will appear as the specificationproceeds.

' The invention is. illustrated, in a preierred em-. bo im t, by he.accompan ing dr wi g. n which;

Figure 1 is a broken side view in elevation. of a portion of a canwashing machine equipped with conveyor apparatus; Fig. 2, a broken View,howin th u pa us ppe with washin mechanism embodying my inventionili'ig.3, a top plan view of theapparatus showninFig, 2; Fig, 4, a perspectiveview of the valve control mechanism; and Fig. 5, across-sectional viewoftheconveyor track, taken. on line 5+5. of Fig. 3.

In the illustration giveninv Figs, 1 to, 5 inc1usivg l designates aframejprovidedatits top with'side rails I 1 within which isacan-supporting track including parallel rails I2, as seen. more clearlyin Figs. 3 and 5. An endless conveyor l3, equipped with spaced .dogsltd, is carried by the conveyorchain I31) within channel. member I 30for moving a can I4 upon the tracks.

Ihe numeral l5 designates a can-inverting craleshaft carryingthevcradles' l6 adapted toreve'rse'the position of a. can which haspassed through the machine, with the, neck downmost to'thepositionillustrated in Fig 1. Cradle shaft I5 is rotated through sprocket. 51 bychain 58 which in turn is driven'by suitablemeans (not shown) Since noclaimismade to the can-in,

verting mechanism as .part of. the present invention,' it, isv believedit will notbe necessary to fu're ther disquss. the .detailsthereot.

The; mach e is e uippe i h nivotellypuht sle ms a a d i ce v m mes lth'ec It nd Ito o er h sems n o; e track below. The arms I 1 are providedwitha QP' i flW '8 j ahelt heid lwewersle mqv ment 0 t enl4 endsa e ties eeis ttlr etai s rees- 1 Asshown more clearly. inEigs. 2 and-3,1 provide mechanism fon'the-washing of' the cantasit moves forward along. thetrack and for moving thewashing mechanism at the same time and in thesame direction. In the illustration given; I provide a hollow pipe [9.providing a manifold therein which isv mounted fonrotation andwhich is,equipped; with an. upwardly-extending drive arm 26.Connectedtothedrivearmis a connector rod 2| and a tube22.receiving-a-springlm The springis supported upon a rod ll'fixedto.the slide bar 25,. The slide bar. 25 is guided between rollers 26 and.is provided at its inner endwith a cam roller 2:]. The roller: engagesacam- 28 mounted on the drive shaft-29'. Upon rotation of the cam 28,the members 25', 24, 22 and-Hare reciprocated, thereby producing arocking otthe pipev I9.

The tube i 9 is provided with a pair ofupwardlyextending pipes. 38, eachhaving spray openings in thetop portion thereof. The pipe-lilisalsoprovided with two. upwardly-extending pipes 3| equipped at their tops.With a horizontally-extending tube. 32 providing an elongated sprayhead. The tubes 32 are closed at their outer ends but providedWithspacedopenings 33 on thei-r innersides so as to direct alspray ofliquid in wardly toward the cam.

The driveshaftZQ carries a second'cammember 34 which drives aroller-equippedmember-35 fixed to the end of rod 5llwhichextends througha spring 36 and slides withinthe-other end= -of-* rod 55, The tube 31,as shownbestinFig. 4; is provided with, a rotatablyemounted sleeve memata low position and below the adjacent-valve plunger 43 which controlsthevalve-M. The ele ments 35 throu h 42;an,d :49 aresupported on: framelilby rods 55;and 56'which'areweldedto tube 31, as shownmore clearly inFig. 2';

At be 4 le ds, from. the valve 44m a pipe entering thetube 19;, as:shown: best inflfiigr 3;

A fluid supply line is indicated in Fig. 3. at 41' andleads from anysuitable source of supply.

Power may be supplied to the drive shaft 29 by-- any suitable means (I01? shown), and transmitted through sprocket 4B fixed to-shaft29toconveyon chain I312.

The rod 42; extends; upwardly .to the level of' the uid track; qthatwhen the can. His-deposited arm l l one ot. thearms engages rod-42' anddepresses it to bring the wear pin 40 into alignment with the valveplunger 43. The relationship between the upper end of rod 42 and the arml1 thereabove is indicated more clearly in Fig. 5. Preferably, a sleeve49 is attached to the adjacent rail l2 to receive and guide rod 42, asindicated in Figs. 2 and 5-.

Pins 5| and 52 are respectively fixed to rods 24 and 50 and slide withinslots 53 and 54 in the tops of tubes 22 and 31. Normally, pins 5| and 53remain in the position shown in Fig. 3 under the action of springs 23and 36, but in case of jamming of the mechanism they permit rollers 21and 35 to disengage from cams 28 and 34.

Operation In the operation of the device, the can l4 on reaching thecradle is inverted, as illustrated in Fig. 1, so that the bottom of thecan comes to rest upon the tracks I2 between the side rails l I. In thedownward movement of the can I4, the weighted arms ll ease the cangently upon the track and the conveyor dogs Isa engage the can and carryit forwardly, as illustrated in Fig. 1. As the can drops to the positionhere shown, the arm l1 above rod 42 engages the rod 42 and depresses it.This movement raises the arm 39 to bring the Wear pin thereof intoalignment with the plunger 43 of the valve 44. Meanwhile, shaft 29 is incontinuous operation, and the cam 34 is reciprocating the member 37forwardly and backwardly. When the arm 39 is raised, the pin 49 isbrought into engagement with the plunger 43 and the valve is opened.Water or other washing fluid now passes from the supply line 4! throughvalve 44, hose 45, and into the manifold pipe It. At the same time, thecam 28 is being rotated to reciprocate the members 22 and 2| and therebyrock the pipe iii.

The timing of the cams illustrated is such that the pipes 38 and 3| arein rear position when the can is deposited and move forwardly with thecan as it is carried along the conveyor. This position is shown indotted lines in Fig. 2 with pipes 3| inclined toward the left. It willbe understood that members 30 and SI may move pari passu with the can Mor they may move slightly faster or at a slightly less speed. I preferto have the members 31 and 30 start at about the rear of the can so asto throw a spray thereon and to slightly exceed the speed of theconveyor so that they spray the front of the can in the final washingaction. The final position of pipes 32 is shown in dotted lines in Fig.2 with pipes 3| inclined toward the right. If desired, the operation maybe reversed with respect to the relative speed of the can and thewashing spray members. However, I prefer to have the members movesomewhat in unison with the can so that the washing action is continuingduring the travel of the can. Thus, no time is lost in the washing stepwhile at the same time a thorough washing of the outer surface andbottom of the canis accomplished by reason of the traveling washingdevices. In the illustration given, can It remains in contact with armsl1, and thus continues to depress rod 42 until the swing of pipes 39 andspray heads 3| is completed from left to right as indicated in Fig. 2.

The washing step is particularly effective for the exterior of the canand after it has been through the washing machine where the interiorthereof has been cleansed and sterilized, because with theoperationdescribed the water striking the exterior of the can does not splashinto the '4 can but washes downwardly along the sides and over thebottom thereof.

While in the foregoing specification, I have described one embodiment ofthe machine in considerable detail for the purpose of illustrating theinvention, it will be understood that such details may be varied widelyby those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of myinvention.

I claim:

1. In an apparatus for washing the exterior surfaces of cylindricalcontainers such as milk cans, the combination comprising a conveyor formoving said containers along a generally horizontal path with thecylindrical surfaces of said containers substantially perpendicular tosaid path, a pipe providing a manifold rockably mounted below said pathand extending transversely thereof, a spray pipe carried by saidmanifold on each side of said path and extending upwardly to the levelof said containers, an elongated spray head carried by each of saidspray pipes and extending at approximately right angles thereto adjacentsaid containers so that when said spray pipes are vertical said sprayheads are horizontal, said spray heads having a plurality oflongitudinally extending apertures therein oriented to direct streams ofliquid on said containers, said spray pipes normally being inclined in adirection opposite to the direction of movement of saidcontainers, andmeans for rocking said manifold pipe from said normal position in thedirection of movement of said containers at an angular velocity greatenough to cause said spray heads to traverse arcuate paths from the rearto the front of said containers as they are moved over saidmanifold-providing pipe by said conveyor, whereby substantially all ofthe cylindrical surfaces of said containers opposite said spray headscan be effectively washed by said spray heads.

2. The combination of claim 1 in which said rockably mounted,manifold-providing pipe is also equipped intermediate said spray pipeson each side of said path with at least one additional spray pipeextending upwardly from said rockably mounted pipe in alignment withsaid spray pipes on each side of said path but terminating below saidpath in a spray head provided with apertures adapted to direct thestreams of water upwardly against the bottom of said containers.

3. In an apparatus for washing the exterior surfaces of cylindricalcontainers, the combination comprising a conveyor for moving saidcontainer along a generally horizontal path with the cylindricalsurfaces of said containers substantially perpendicular to said path, amanifold pipe rockably mounted below said path and extendingtransversely thereof, a spray pipe carried by said manifold pipe on eachside of said path and extending upwardly to the level of saidcontainers, laterally'extending spray heads carried by said spray pipesadjacent said containers so that the inclination of said spray headswith re spect to said containers varies as said spray pipes and sprayheads are moved through arcuate paths, said spray pipes normally beinginclined in a direction opposite to the direction of movement of saidcontainers, and means for rocking said manifold pipe from said normalposition in the direction of movement of said containers at an angularvelocity great enough to cause said laterally extending spray heads totraverse arcuate paths from the rear to the front of said containers asthey are moved over said manifold pipe by said conveyor, wherebysubstantially all of the cylindrical surfaces of said containersopposite said spray heads can be effectively washed by said spray heads.

HARRY D. LATHROP.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the 10 fileof this patent:

Number 6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Taylor July 15, 1919 MillerAug. 28, 1923 Simonsson Sept. 27, 1932 Gruetter Apr. 18, 1933 McClatchieJune 13, 1933 Taylor July 25, 1933 Williams Nov. 17, 1936 Herold Nov.25, 1941 Alling et a1 Apr. 24, 1945 Cook Mar. 6, 1951

